Push button fastener



April 5, 1966 R. H. 'BISBING 3,244,444

PUSH BUTTON FASTENER Filed May 8, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG- l INVENTOR,

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PUSH BUTTON FASTENER Filed May 8, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 @f 13 24E 211m 34 }30 "5 uma; zza

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` BY @Ja @d United States Patent O "Tice 3,244,444 PUSH BUTTON FASTENER Robert H. Bisbing, Springfield, Pa., assignor to South Chester Corporation, Lester, Pa., a corporation of Delaware Filed May 8, 1964, Ser. No. 366,105 10 Claims. (Cl. 292-306) This invention relates to fastening devices, and particularly to a push button type of releasable fastener for doors and panels.

The object of the invention is to provide, for doors and the like, .a fastening device having a push button type of release. It-is a feature of the invention that the fastening device is able to Ilock the door in any position (within a range) in which it is closed.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, showing a preferred form of the lpush-button sub-assembly at the left and avpreferred form of stud sub-assembly at the right, the two sub-assemblies being separated from each other, as when the door is open;

FIG. 2 is a front view of the fastener looking in at the push-button;

FIG. 3 is .a view at the rear of the push-button subassembly looking in along the line III-III of FIG. l;

FIG. 4 is a side elevation, partly in section, showing the relationship of the push-button land `stud sub-assemblies when the door is fastened but not fully closed;

FIG. 5 is a side elevation, partly in section, showing the relationship of the sub-assemblies when the push button is depressed to release the door; and

FIG. 6 is .a side elevation similar to FIG. 4 but showing the door fully closed.

Referring now to the drawing, the fastening device of my present invention, in its preferred form, comprises two sub-assemblies, a female sub-assembly indicated generally by the reference numeral 10 and a male sub-assembly indicated -generally Iby the reference numeral 30. The female sub-assembly 10 includes the push button release mechanism and is installed on the door 4i). The male sub-assembly 30 is a lforwardly-projecting stud assembly and is installed on the frame 50 in a position `to mate with the push-button assembly when the door is closed. Unless the door has a natural or builtin tendency to spring lopen, the stud Iassembly 30 may be provided with a helical spring 35 to provide the force for the ini-tial opening movement of the door when the push button is depressed to release the fastening device. When fully compressed, spring 35 is a two-layer flattened spiral, as illustrated in FIG. 6.

Female sub-assembly 10 comprises a tubular housing or shell 11 having .a wall 12 whose thickness is .abruptly reduced at an intermediate point, forming the annular shoulder 13. At the rearward end, the wal-l 12 of shell 11 is again reduced, forming the annular shoulder 14.

The front end of the shell 11 is provided with an outward flange portion 15 adapted to abut against the face of the door 40 when the shell 11 is insert-ed into the cylindrical hole which is bored through the d-oor to receive the push-button sub-assembly. The shell 11 has a length which is greater than the thickness of the door, so that when the shell 11 is inserted into the door and the flange 15 abut-s the face of the door, the rear end ofthe shell 11 extends sufficiently beyond the rear surface of the door to receive the annular retaining ring 16. This retaining ring 16 functions to retain the shell 11 in the door against the pressure exerted thereagain'st by the stud assembly 30, `as will be described later.

3,244,444 Patented Apr. 5, 1966 The Iassembly of the push-button sub-assembly 10 will now be described.

The cylindrical push button 20 is inserted into the shell 11, entering through the rearward end of the shell. The push button 20 has a smaller diameter at its forward end substantially equal to the smaller diameter of the bore at the forward portion of the shell 11; and button 20 has a larger diameter .at its rearward end forming an annular shoulder 23 adapted to abut against the shoulder 13 of the shell 11. These shoulders, on the button and shell, prevent the push button from being pushed forwardly out of the shell by a rearwardly applied force.

Push button 20 has yan axial recess 24 at its rearward end. A compression spring 25 is inserted into the recess 24 and tends to protrude rearwardly therefrom. A rst annular disc .or washer 26 is inserted into the bore of the shell 11 behind the spring 25, and, rearwardly of t-he washer 26, a second annular disc Washer 27 is inserted. The apertures 26a and 27a of the washers 26 land 27, respectively, =may be of substantially equal diameter. The rearward Washer 27 is provided with a forwardly extending tab 28 which abuts against the rear face of the forward washer 26. The rearward washer 27, which has a larger outside diameter than the forward washer 26, abuts against the shoulder 14 .at the rearward end of the shell 11.

After t-he push button 20, the `spring 25, the forward washer 26, and the rearward tab washer 27, have been inserted into the shell 11, the rearmost end Iof the shell is turned in to form the -retaining ange 29 which retains the aforementioned parts of the push-button subassernbly in the shell. The spring 25 exerts a force rearward-ly against -the forward washer 26 and, since rearward movement of washer 26 is prevented .at tab 28, the washer 26 is forced into the angularly inclined position illustrated in FIG. l, in which the upper part of washer 26 (as viewed in FIG. l) abuts against the upper portion of the rearward washer 27.

The stud subaassembly 30 comprises a stud 31 which has a diameter slightly smaller than that of the apertures 26a and 27a of the washers 26 zand 27, respectively. In a preferred embodiment of the stud sub-assembly 3l), the stud 31 and the hexagonal collar 34 are integral, Le., the stud 31 is machined from hexagonal stock, leaving a lcollar at 34. The rearward end portion lof stud 31 is of reduced diameter and is threaded for receiving the nut 36. Secured, as by welding to collar 34, or by ya press tit .on the portion of stud 31 adjacent the forward face of collar 34, is a helical compression spring 35. The rearward reduceddiameter end portion of the stud'31 is inserted through a hole 51 bored through the frame 50, and the nut 36 is applied t-o secure the stud assembly to the frame.

The push button fastening device of the present application operates as follows:

To close the door, the door (not the push button 20) y is pushed in the direction of the arrow A in FIG. l.

No pressure is applied to the push button 20. When the door 40 is rst pushed, the vari-ous parts of the push-button sub-assembly 10 occupy the positions indicated in FIG. 1.

As the door 40 moves toward the closed position, the forwardly projecting stud 31 on the frame 50 first enters the aperture 27a of washer 27 and then the aperture 26a of the washer 26. In so doing, the stud 31 clears the peripheral edge of aperture 27a, but when the stud 31 enters the 4aperture 26a of the inclined washer 26, the upper, and then the lower, edges of the aperture 26a are frictionally engaged by the stud. This, of course, is due to the fact that aperture 26a presents a reduced `opening t-o the stud 31, resulting from the inclined p0- sition of plate 26 shown in FIG. 1. As the door 40 continues to close, the stud 31 moves into the pushbutton sub-assembly and forces the washer 26 into a more erect position, thereby compressing the spring 25.

With respect to the stud spring 35, it will be seen that when the spring 35 is fully compressed, as in FIG. 6, the three turns of the spring nearest to the collar 34 form a single pancake layer, 4and the outer three layers form a second layer. Thus, spring 35 does not become fully compressed until tab Washer 27 and hexagonal collar 34 are separated by a space equal to twice the diameter of the wire of spring 35. The closed position of the door may be as in FIG. 6; or the closed position may be as represented in FIG. 4; or it may be any position between these tw-o extremes. The exact closed position is governed, not by the fastener, but by the door and frame arrangement. The door is closed when some part of the door abuts the frame; the fastener of the present invention then locks it there. The ability of the fastener to lock the door in any position (within a range) in which the door is closed, as determined by the door and frame arrangement, is an important feature of the fastener of the present application.

Consider now the door in closed position in FIG. 6. The spring 35 tries to push the door 40 open by applying its compressive force against the rear surface of tab washer 27. The inclined forward washer 26, however, i-s in tight frictional engagement with the stud 31, and this prevents the washer 25 from moving forward on the stud. It will be seen that if, in response to the pressure applied by the compressed spring 35, there were any forward opening movement of the door whatsoever, the tab 28 of washer 27 would .rn-ove forward relative to the stud 31 and would push forward the lower portion of washer 26. This would serve to increase the inclination of the forward washer 26, and would look the washer 26 more firmly to the st-ud. It will be seen then, that, in FIG. 6, the fastening device functions to retain the door 40 firmly fastened to th-e frame 54B through the stud 31. The action just described also applies to the partly closed condition of FIG. 4. The fastener locks the door in the position shown.

To open the door, the push button is depressed, as by a force applied in the direction indicated by the arrow B in FIG. 5. When the push button 20 is depressed, its rear surface contacts the lowermost edge of washer 26. Sufficient pressure on this edge will rotate the washer 26 out of frictional engagement with stud 31. As soon as the frictional engagement with the stud 31 is broken, washer 26 snaps into coplanar contact with the rear surface of push button 20. The contact is coplanar because the washer is being squeezed between the button 20 and the tab 28. The force of spring 35 (which in FIG. 4 -is transmitted through tab washer 27, tabA 28, Washer 26 and then back through the stud 31) is in FIG. 5 being transmitted straight through tab washer 27, tab 23, washer 26 and button Ztl to the operators linger. Spring cannot tilt washer 26 because -spring is much stronger. As the linger is removed from the button, the button sub-assembly follows the finger until spring 35 is relaxed. This relaxes the squeeze on the Washer 26 yand spring 25 tilts it to the position shown in FIG. 1. At this point, stud 3l is substantially clear of washer 26 and the door may be pulled open.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A releasable fastening device for doors and the like, comprising: female and male sub-assemblies adapted to be mounted on door `and frame in mating relationship, said female sub-assembly comprising; a tubular shell having a push button captive in the forward end of the shell bore, a pair of apertured washers in the rearward end of the shell bore, the rearward of said washers having a forwardly-extending tab kadapte-d to abut against a portion of the rear surface of the' forward of said washers, a compression spring laxially disposed in said shell bore rearward of said push button and forward of said forward washer, -said compression spring tending to force said forward Washer rearwardly against said tab and into an inclined position relative to the axis of said shell bore, means retaining said rearward washer in fixed position in said shell bore, and retaining means for retaining said female :sub-assembly in said door; said male sub-assembly including a stud of a diameter to be slidable freely through the apertures of said pair of washers when both washers are perpendicular to the stud axis but adapted to be tightly gripped by said forward washer when said forward washer is inclined, the rearward move-ment of said push button in response to a rearward force applied thereto pressing sai-d forward washer rearwardly against said tab and forcing said forward washer from an inclined to a perpendicular position Irelative to the sud axis.

2. A fastening device as claimed in claim 1 characterized in that said push button is provided with a recess f-or receiving said spring.

3. A fastening device as claimed in claim 2 characterized in that said male sub-assembly includes a second helical compression spring surrounding said stud and having an axis coinciding with that of said stud, said second spring being heavy relative to said first spring.

4. A releasable fastening devicefor doors and the like, comprising: female and male sub-assemblies adapted to be mounted on the door and frame in mating relation, said male sub-assembly `comprising a projecting stud; said female sub-'assembly comprising a tubular shell having a forward reduced bore and a rearward enlarged bore, forming an annular shoulder at the junction; a push button having a reduced dia-meter at the forward end and an enlarged diameter at the rearward end, forming a shoulder adapted to abut against the annular shoulder of the shell; said push button having an axial recess at the rearward end; a helical compression spring Within said push button recess; first and second axially apertured washers in said shell rearward ofrsaid push button, said second washer having a forwardly extending tab against which said lfirst washer is pressed by said push button compression spring, forcing said rst washer into an inclined position relative to the axis of said shell; the aperture of said first washer being of such diameter relative to the diameter of said stud that the stud will pass freely through said aperture when said first washer is perpendicular to the axis of said stud, but will be tightly gripped by said first washer when the first washer is inclined from the perpendicular.

5. A fastening device as claimed in claim 4 characterized in that -a helical compression spring surrounds said stud and is coaxial therewith, said last-named stud spring being substantially heavier than said first-named pushbutton spring.

6. A releasable fastening device for doors and the like, comprising: female and male sub-assemblies adapted to be mounted on the door and frame respectively in mating relation; said male sub-assembly comprising a forwardly projecting stud; said female sub-assembly comprising: a tubular shell having a push button in the forward portion thereof, -a disk-like washer rearward of said p-ush button and having a center aperture slightly larger in diameter than the diameter of said stud, a helical compression spring coaxially disposed between said push button yand said washer, stop means rearward of said washer adapted to abut against a small angular sector of said washer, said washer being normally forced by said coaxial spring and stop means into an inclined position relative to said stud, whereby said washer grips said stud, said washer being forced by the depression of said push button to assume a perpendicular position relative to said stud, whereby said washer is released from said stud.

7. A fastening device as claimed in claim 6 character ized in that said stop means comprises a tab extending forward from an apertured closure plate adapted to receive and pass said stud.

8. A fastening device as claimed in claim 7 char-acterized in that said push button is provided with -a recess for receiving said spring.

9.. A fastening device as claimed in claim 8 further characterized in that a helical compression spring surrounds said stud 4and is coaxial therewith.

10. A fastening device as claimed in claim 9 further characterized in that said stud spring is heavy relative to said push-button spring.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 600,864 3/1898 Glover 292-806 671,147 4/ 1901 Robbins et al.

1,683,370 9/19-28 Pant 339-110 X 2,391,884 1/1946 De onow 292-306 FOREIGN PATENTS 858,069 5/1940 France.

JOSEPH D. SEERS, Primary Examiner.

R. E. MOORE, Assistant Examiner. 

6. A RELEASABLE FASTENING DEVICE FOR DOORS AND THE LIKE, COMPRISING: FEMALE AND MALE SUB-ASSEMBLIES ADAPTED TO BE MOUNTED ON THE DOOR AND FRAME RESPECTIVELY IN MATING RELATION; SAID MALE SUB-ASSEMBLY COMPRISING A FORWARDLY PROJECTING STUD; SAID FEMALE SUB-ASSEMBLY COMPRISING: A TUBULAR SHELL HAVING A PUSH BOTTON IN TE FORWARD PORTION THEREOF, A DISK-LIKE WASHER REARWARD OF SAID PUSH BUTTON AND HAVING A CENTER APERTURE SLIGHTLY LARGER IN DIAMETER THAN THE DIAMETER OF SAID STUD, A HELICAL COMPRESSION SPRING COAXIALLY DISPOSED BETWEEN SAID PUSH BUTTON AND SAID WASHER, STOP MEANS REARWARD OF SAID 